“Hopefully [the new Virginia beltway HOT lanes] will work well and reduce congestion. If so, this is a great step towards using tolls effectively to provide a value-added benefit to toll payers.

The Dulles Toll Road (DTR) is a classic example of the opposite: tolls being mis-used on other projects instead of providing a transportation solution.

Tolls had already paid for the DTR, and now are being rapidly increased to pay for a transit project with no benefit to most toll-payers. The result will be toll-avoidance diversion of traffic to local roads bringing gridlock and reduced mobility to the region.

If the Beltway express lanes work, VDOT should retake the DTR from corrupt MWAA [using eminent domain], make it free again, and MWAA could turn the Dulles Airport Access Rd. into HOT lanes modeled after the beltway project.

Revenues from airport users and commuters willing and able to pay could fund the rail project, while local residents’ already-paid-for-road would be made accessible to them again.